There isn't much here. We know the score, we know the team is on the brink, we know that there's clearly something missing from this group. The team is playing a scoring chance behind every shift and leaving shots on the ice.

Toughness? Grit? Tiredness? I forget the story at this point. Vancouver had a tepid, predictable powerplay. Few positives to take from it, and they also allowed a pair of shorthanded goals (although I guess one ~technically~ wasn't).

I won't take too much of your time. It's Friday, we know the score, we know the stakes. I'll have a few thoughts on Roberto Luongo vs. Cory Schneider debate that's sure to pop up in the coming day, along with the usual stuff: chances, the Statistical Three Stars, and the Statistical Three Goats.

-Luongo's one-game high is better than Schneider's. In the interest of keeping his fatigue and pressure down, I was on board with bringing Schneider in every three games or so to give the opposition a different look. I can look into this more, but, really, the Canucks need a win in Game Three, and Luongo, while he may not give the Canucks the best chance to win, he's the guy with more talent, the guy who can really steal the game you need.

-Ryan Kesler had a real good shift at the end of the second period, getting a pair of good shots away and making two hustle plays to keep the puck alive in the offensive zone. I didn't see Game One, but I liked that after all the stuff people were saying about him.

-At some point, I'm going to write a post about Damien Cox. Not too loudly, though, because having stood next to the guy, he looks like he can shoulder press about 200 pounds.

-That's a lot of weight.

-I plugged in the Statistical Three Goats. Who the hell is Colin Fraser? Not sure who said it, but I saw a tweet saying that Dustin Brown plays like David Booth should play like. Booth fell down a few times cutting in this game. It was pretty poor from him.

-Manny Malhotra this series is 8 chances for, 1 against, which is un-friggin-real. I don't know what's gotten into him, but his offensive game seems to be rounding into form, maybe a year or so too late.

-UPDATE: Turns out the original Statistical Three Stars and Goats were wrong. When you're dealing with sensitive scripts whilst slightly intoxicated, this tends to happen. Malhotra had a pretty poor effort, as it turns out, which makes sense, because I do not think I saw him in the offensive zone.

-Two anecdotes to share about teams in tough in series'. The first comes from last season: Boston dropped two to Montreal in the first round last season, and we all know what happened there.

BUT

-I also think back to ten years ago, when the Vancouver Canucks went into the playoffs as a red-hot club against the President's Trophy winner Detroit Red Wings. Vancouver took an OT win in Game 1 and a dominant win in Game 2 back to Vancouver, up 2-0 in the series, but against a determined, re-focused, and more talented group. The one Dan Cloutier goal aside, that wasn't totally the difference in that playoff series.

-Maybe those two are bad examples, but you can still come back to win from this point. The problems aren't fully luck-based or goaltending-related. They're fixable.

-I have no idea what to make of this, but it scares me.

@SocialAssassin2 I can't see it. Enough would be enough. But someone just handed me a Crown-soaked note - he's back for gm 3.

You can't fix the powerplay in one game, other than not giving up short handed goals. The funny thing is on the second goal, the power play was off to a good start - until Hamhuis fell down. I can see the reference to last years Bruins, and the 02 Red Wings, but I wouldn't push it too far - better not to reference it too much. This looks more like the 95 Red Wings-Devils cup final. LA is playing very well and while they are getting breaks, they are earning them. Looking on the bright side, the Canucks did a lot of things well - I thought Kassien played a good game, along with Kesler, Hendrik, etc. It is a cliche, but it is now one game, one period, one shift at a time. In terms of goalie situation, I thought they should plan to play both goalies in the same way they did in the last 8 game of the season. So my vote - which means nothing - is to make the change.

With any luck you will have a serious but non-life threatening accident on the way to Vancouver. Perhaps one which renders you in a coma from you awake, miraculously, smart. Because you sure aren't now.

I KNEW Mase and Kes had a good game! And I really liked how Kesler wasn't playing up the antics and was instead playing good hockey. Five on five, the Canucks were dominating. It was defensive/neutral zone mistakes and a SUCKY powerplay (seriously, I was more frightened when we had the man advantage than when we were even strength) that got us tonight.

And Lu was awesome again, for the most part. I love how all his haters have had little to say for the last few days. They've finally realized they can't pin every loss on the goaltender.

In reply to Nuckfish. It would be great to have Daniel back - it would help the PP and in general but it doesn't appear likely until game 5 - if they get that far. Back in 2001, the Avalanche lost Peter Forsberg at the end of the second round, and went on to win the Cup against a very good Devil team without their (arguably) best player. So all they can do is try to suck it up, and maybe find someone who can fit well with Henrik and Burrows!